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Home Front Economy
CaliforniaÂ’s Tipping Point
2009-01-24
Hat tip Instapundit
I think a threshold or tipping point exists in the ratio between the political power of those who pay taxes and those who consume taxes directly. After that tipping point is reached, those who pay taxes become the economic slaves of those who consume taxes.

I think California has passed that point. Tax consumers now control the state government and can vote themselves almost any level of personal income and benefits they wish while taxpayers cannot muster the political capital to defend themselves.
What about the rest of the Country?
Posted by:g(r)omgoru

#8  Look at California. Or PA. But OS feels comfortable now.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble   2009-01-24 20:06  

#7  OldSpook: I think the only solution for Colorado is to secede from the Denver/Boulder/Fort Collins urban area. When 85% of the population of the state reside in 7 of the 59 counties, you're in trouble if you don't live in one of those seven counties.
Posted by: Old Patriot   2009-01-24 19:59  

#6  A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury.

We are about to find out what happens when the public treasury is empty and the moneylenders aka bond purchasers have permanently left town.
Posted by: phil_b   2009-01-24 19:02  

#5  P2k I think Polibius was the first to point out the transience of democracy.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2009-01-24 14:55  

#4  I'm in California, have significant access within state government, and couldn't agree more. The state is actually run by Susan Kennedy, Governor S's Chief of Staff, and interestingly, Gray Davis' Chief of Staff before that. The government, at appointee and senior management level is riddled with progressives and literal socialists, many in thrall to the unions and the liberal extremes of the democrat party. There is no doubt that they cater to, and will shortly be enthusiastically welcoming the 5 million illegals in the state when BHO and Nancy/Harry extend citizenship to all of the illegals nationwide. This will for all time tip CA into the socialist camp, and those 55 electoral votes will be solidly democrat forever.
We have literally taken paradise and ruined it.
someone here recently said it best, California, a second world economy, populated by third world citizens, run by first world academic twits.....
(with my addition) living off the few actual Americans left. Most of us are are just waiting for a little recovery in the housing market before returning to the actual United States, leaving emerging chaos behind).

Our national sloth and the subversion of educational systems led us to this. It makes me cry just to watch the death spiral increase in velocity so quickly.....
Posted by: NoMoreBS   2009-01-24 13:47  

#3  Sounds like Alexander Fraser Tytler and Lord Woodhouselee nailed the cycle of history two hundred years ago.
Posted by: regular joe   2009-01-24 12:51  

#2  If you are in Californai, and are productive: LEAVE!

Get out while you still can.

Go to a more free state, and remember to NOT repeat the errors that led to California's self-destruction.

But: Do NOT bring Californication (liberal social/immigration/tax/spend policies) with you (like is happenign in Colorado).
Posted by: OldSpook   2009-01-24 12:24  

#1   A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations from the beginning of history has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence:

* From bondage to spiritual faith;
* From spiritual faith to great courage;
* From courage to liberty;
* From liberty to abundance;
* From abundance to complacency;
* From complacency to apathy;
* From apathy to dependence;
* From dependence back into bondage.

- Alexander Fraser Tytler, Lord Woodhouselee (October 15, 1747 - January 5, 1813)
Posted by: Procopius2k   2009-01-24 11:46  

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